Donald Trump's operations director, Madeleine Westerhout, said under oath on Friday that she had met with the former president's legal defense team -- but CNN legal analyst Elie Honig doesn't think it's a very big deal.
Trump is on trial for 34 felony counts about whether he falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment he gave to actress and director Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair.
Westerhout broke down in tears on the stand at one point during her testimony this week but didn't explain why.
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Just before, Trump's attorney, Susan Necheles, asked about conversations she had with the ex-president when the news came out about Daniels.
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Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld reported that Westerhout "duly agreed" that the news upset Trump "because he knew it would be hurtful to his family."
However, Klasfeld said that the question became a "mixed bag" for the defense because the witness also said that "I don’t think he specifically said" he was worried about his family "but I could understand that the whole situation was very unpleasant."
The judge agreed to requests from prosecutors that the comments be stricken from the record.
When it was time for prosecutors to redirect, they asked whether Westerhout had spoken to Necheles before. She acknowledged they had, the most recent conversation being two days ago over Zoom.
Honig the emphasized that simply having the witness meet with defense counsel was not a big deal given that prosecutors are given extensive access to all witnesses during trial.
"Prosecutors who want to talk to witnesses, usually do get to talk to witnesses," he said. "Defense lawyers always ask and usually are told no thank you. So, I guess the jury would take away, yeah, she's somewhat sympathetic to Trump, but that didn't go well for the prosecutors."
Watch the video below or at this link.
Witness reveals she was coordinating with Trump's legal team www.youtube.com
